Team Singapore's Chefs de mission for SEA Games & Asian Games 2023 announced!

(From L to R) Jasmine Yeong-Nathan (Asst CDM), Dr Hing Siong Chen (CDM) and Lim Tong Hai (Asst CDM). Photo Credit : Kong Chong Yew/SNOC

With less than 9 weeks to go, Dr Hing Siong Chen, President of the Singapore Cycling Federation, has been unveiled as the chef de mission for Team Singapore, at the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia.

As a member of the Singapore National Olympic Council’s (SNOC) Executive Committee, Dr Hing will be joined by two assistant chefs de mission – Lim Tong Hai and Jasmine Yeong-Nathan – both who were national representatives in football and bowling respectively. 

Said Dr Hing, “Leading Team Singapore at the SEA Games is a tremendous privilege which I am looking forward to with plenty of excitement. Being able to do so with two capable and experienced former national athletes – Jasmine and Tong Hai – puts us in good stead in our preparations for the Games. I wish all Team Singapore athletes who are training hard to perform at Cambodia the best, and look forward to a successful outing in May.”

(From L to R) Lim Tong Hai (Asst CDM), Dr Hing Siong Chen (CDM) and Jasmine Yeong-Nathan (Asst CDM). Photo Credit : Kong Chong Yew/SNOC

At a meeting on 27 Feb 2023, the SNOC Appeals Committee also approved 56 nominations to the 516 athletes already selected by the SNOC in mid-Jan. That raises the total to 572* athletes who will represent Team Singapore at the Cambodia Games in 30 sports. This upcoming edition of the SEA Games will be Cambodia’s first attempt in organising the biennial multi-sport competition. The 32nd SEA Games will feature 36 sports across a few cities including Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia from 5 to 17 May 2023. 

Team Singapore returned with a medal haul of 47 gold, 46 silver and 71 bronze medals from the Hanoi 2021 SEA Games. The 2015 SEA Games remains Singapore’s best performing Games (84 gold, 73 silver and 102 bronze medals) while the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur (58 gold, 59 silver and 71 bronze medals) stands as Singapore’s best away Games. 

*subject to change

(From L to R) Mrs Du Mengfei (Deputy Director, Marketing Department, Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee), Dr Koh Koon Teck (Chef de Mission, Team Singapore, Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games), Mr Tan Chuan-Jin (President, SNOC), Tao Li (Assistant chef de mission, Team Singapore, Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games), Mr Wissam Trkmani (Projects and Operations Manager, Olympic Council of Asia), Koh Seng Leong (Assistant chef de mission, Team Singapore, Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games).

On 25 Feb 2023, more than 150 Asian Games-bound athletes joined the community on a run around the vicinity of the Singapore Sports Hub at the Singapore edition of the Hangzhou Fun Run organised by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC).

Since 2004, the OCA has been organising a series of fun runs in different Asian cities to promote the Asian Games prior to the upcoming edition. Besides Singapore, the Hangzhou Fun Run has also visited communities in Uzbekistan, Thailand, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and will continue to Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Qatar.  

The crowd was also introduced to Team Singapore’s newly-appointed chefs de mission. Dr Koh Koon Teck will lead the contingent in Hangzhou and will be assisted by Olympians Tao Li and Koh Seng Leong. 

Dr Koh is currently the President of the Basketball Association of Singapore and also serves as a member on the SNOC Executive Committee. The physical education and sports science educator was team manager to the men’s basketball team at the 2013 and 2015 Southeast Asian Games when they captured a bronze medal to end a 34-year drought. 

Double Olympians – swimmer Tao Li and sailor Koh Seng Leong – will serve as assistant chefs de mission to Dr Koh. The Asiad will be Tao Li’s second assignment as a contingent leader. In 2018, she led Team Singapore’s Youth Olympic Games contingent to Buenos Aires as chef de mission. The 33-year-old was also the champion in the women’s 50m butterfly event at the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games, and remains the only Singaporean woman to make an Olympic swimming final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. 

At the 2006 Asian Games, sailor Koh Seng Leong nailed a silver medal in the Laser Radial Open event after returning to competitive sailing following a motorbike accident in 2005 which caused him to miss the year’s SEA Games. After retiring from competitive sailing in 2010, the 39-year-old returned to sports in 2021 when he was elected as vice-president to Olympians Singapore, an association representing Olympians in Singapore.  

“Since the Covid-19 pandemic, our athletes have been taking the challenges posed in good stride. Even with postponements of competitions and major Games, they continue to train and keep themselves in good shape physically and mentally. I am heartened to see such resolve and enthusiasm by our athletes as they put their best foot forward to represent Singapore at the Asian Games. I am confident with the support of Tao Li and Seng Leong – both who competed at the elite level as high performance athletes – that Team Singapore will have a fruitful outing in Hangzhou,” said Dr Koh. 

Singapore is set its largest contingent to the Asiad with 382 athletes selected in 29 sports by the SNOC at the selection meeting last year. More are expected to join the team as athletes who have yet to meet the qualifying mark, have till May 2023 for the Appeals Committee to consider their nominations. 

The 19th Asian Games were originally scheduled to take place in 2022 but was postponed to 23 September to 8 October 2023 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There will be 482 events competed in 40 sports. At the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018, Team Singapore’s contingent of 264 athletes came home with 4 gold, 4 silver and 14 bronze medals.